1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fasteners, and more particularly to fasteners for holding objects to a perforated wall.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A wide variety of useful fasteners for holding objects to walls is available to the public and has been for many years. When attaching objects to a perforated wall, the available fasteners are much fewer in number, and those that are available have many severe drawbacks.
For the sake of convenience, in this specification, the term "tool holder" will be used to represent that group of implements that are attached to a perforated wall board by insertion of an element into at least one hole and used to hold hand tools, garden tools, instruments, wires, cables, display items (such as package hangers or shelves), picture hangers, and the like. The term "wall" shall be used to represent that group of wall-like structures in which at least one hole is made and which accommodates and supports a tool holder by means of insertion of a part of the tool holder into the hole. The typical tool holder, whether it be a hook, a straight bar, or a loop for holding different types of tools such as screwdrivers, usually has a bent rod-like offset hooked portion at its top which is inserted into the hole by a rotating action of the fastener to situate the top tip of the hook behind the wallboard while allowing the lower part of the fastener to rest against the front surface of the wallboard. An improvement over this type of holder is to provide a pin or projection near the lower side of the tool holder which is inserted, without resistance to removal, into an adjacent hole in the pegboard. While the latter arrangement prevents rotation of the tool holder and avoids some of the frustration experienced using holders without the extra pin or projection below, those who use such fasteners or holders for tools and the like still experience frustration and irritation upon attempting to remove the tool from the fastener, since the bottom portion of the fastener is easily pulled away from the wall surface because the pin or projection is loosely fitted into its hole.
One known fastener used to secure rod-like tool holders to a perforated wall or board is formed from a thin piece of wire (about 0.5 mm in diameter) into the shape of a half-sized hairpin with outwardly bowed legs defined by a sharp bend in each leg so that the bends are spaced apart greater than the diameter of the holes, and the bight portion of the fastener encompasses the rod-like object to be fastened to the wall. The tips of the legs of the fastener are then inserted into the hole in the wall until the sharp bend portion of each leg exits the rear side of the wall, the natural spring action of the fastener forcing the legs apart and wedging the fastener to the rear surface of the wall by the outwardly bowed legs abutting the periphery of the rear of the hole. The only force spreading the legs of the fastener is provided by the natural spring tension of the wire piece itself. There is no cooperation with the object to be held to the wall insofar as forcing the legs apart or resisting removal of the fastener from the front surface of the wall. As a result, this type of fastener has been totally ineffective in accomplishing its purpose. First, the spring tension is generally very weak, and the bowed leg portions on each side of the sharp bend in the legs is at an angle only slightly departing from the axis of the hole. Accordingly, even a very small force, such as removing a tool from the object (e.g. a tool hook or hanger) will cause the fastener to be removed from the hole. Those who use perforated boards (sometimes referred to as pegboards and sold under the trademark Peg-Board, a material with regularly spaced perforations into which hooks may be inserted for the storage or display of tools, instruments, and other articles) are familiar with the frustration and irritation involved with an insecure hook. Some workers even remove this type of fastener entirely because of the additional effort involved in continually replacing the fastener in the hole and yet not realizing any substantial benefit in securing the object.
Another type of fastener involves the use of a screw having threads which self-thread themselves into the hole of a perforated board. Such a fastener is part of a two-piece tool holder in which a clip is fastened by the aforementioned screw, and a rod-like tool holder (e.g. hook) is connected to the clip. While this type of fastener indeed provides significant resistance to the removal of the fastener from the wall, it is a very expensive item, requiring a screw threaded piece and two-piece construction of the holder itself. Furthermore, due to tolerances in the hole sizes in a typical perforated wallboard and the variation in the quality and type of material used in such boards, the tool holder would become ineffective for boards having larger than average hole sizes and/or boards made of inferior or soft material such as inexpensive particle board. Moreover, upon repeated using of the fastener, due to tool relocation on the wall, etc., the holes in the wallboard can easily by damaged due to stripping of the hole, and the holder would then become ineffective for its stated purpose.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a fastener of the type described above which is devoid of the many faults associated with insecure or complex/expensive wall fasteners. The present invention provides a fastener for attachment to a perforated wall which overcomes all of the aforementioned deficiencies.